Short story contest. A young boy is released from the dungeon for the very first time in his life. Having never learned anything- his own name, how to speak, what the heck this big blue ceiling is, it;s very confusing for him when he reaches the Castle. A young girl his age approaches him and when she speaks her name he suddenly knows who he is. One chapter. Enjoy.

The time is 11:00 in the morning. A young boy steps out of his prison for the first time in his life. The sun dazzles him, for he has never seen such a large torch before. The torches in the dungeons were always on the wall, not the ceiling. And such a high ceiling this was, too! Even if the boy stood on his tippy-toes, he could not for the life of him reach the ceiling. He blinks again and glances around him. There is not much to see but grey- and he has seen much grey from the stone all around him. This grey is different, though… soft, somehow. It made him feel rather calm as he took his first steps forward. He stumbled a bit, unused to such uneven surfaces- not that the floor in his previous "home" was smooth, either.

There were swirly, colorless puffs hanging up on the ceiling, and he couldn't reach those, either. He was alone, but didn't mind. The only thing that had ever accompanied him- if it could be called that- had been his jailer, who brought him two small meals a day, usually bread and jam. He did not know how lucky he was to be fed at all, knowing who he was. Which he didn't.

The boy had no name, no language, no face, and no personality. No thoughts, not even what it meant to be outside the cold dungeon. He didn't know he was free, but he never knew that he was captured in the first place. The most he knew was how to perform the most basic human functions- clothe himself, feel himself, and, on occasion, bathe himself. These things he

needed to teach himself, and it wasn't that bad because he didn't know someone else was supposed to teach it to him. It was cooler out here than in the dungeon, the boy faintly noted. Wherever "here" was. He saw something massive and dark on the horizon, and though he didn't know what a horizon was, this "object" was a forest. Inside that forest was a large castle known as simply the Castle. There were others like the boy and he couldn't know this either.

He was surprised to find himself drawn to this forest and trudged along at a leisurely pace, because wherever he was going would surely be there even if he were to slow down. The forest was strange, foreign, and beautiful. Not that the boy could know any of this, either. If a word could have come to his mind, it would have been "different." There was no sound- not a breeze, no rustling of a leaf, no animals- it was as if the entre forest was watching him, holding his breath and waiting- and waiting was something the boy understood, so this unnerved him.

He found himself at a large stone wall- something familiar. A feeling bubbled up inside him- curiosity. This had happened before, when he tried to figure things out, like the identity of his jailer- the result prevented him from being curious anymore. He went along the wall until it turned to wood and he entered through it. He could hear sounds.

The sounds reminded him of sounds he could make himself and this peaked his curiosity even further. Drawn like a moth to light he followed the noise until he walked down a dark hallway. He emerged to an ultimate flurry of movement. Creatures that looked much like himself, but so completely different, bustled about, dressed in odd clothes. They had long hair,

short hair, golden hair, brown hair, and skin colors of every kind. He glanced down at his own skin and thought to himself, perhaps for the first time, that it was pale.

A smaller creature had spotted him and came closer. He didn't know what this could mean but he wanted to find out, so he stayed put as it came closer. When it was a few feet away the creature showed its teeth, rather hesitantly. Unsure of what to do, he copied its actions and now it seemed surer of itself. It opened it's mouth and a strange noise came out of it. It was the oddest thing he had ever heard and somehow he began to know this was understandable. With a sudden jolt, everything had a name. The colors. The smells. The creatures, they were like him, and he was human! Suddenly excited, he almost missed what the thing- no, the girl- said.

"Hello, my name is Madeline. What's yours?"

Her sounds, her voice, it was called 'quiet' and 'shy'. He grinned broadly, suddenly realizing that indeed it was the right thing to do when you met a new person.

"My name's Alfred,"

And Alfred knew that he had suddenly discovered something big and important and decided that he would find out, with his new friend's help.

And what a pair of friends they became.

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